Business of the Year for Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce

J's Pizza Market has been a highly regarded business in Mentor for nearly 20 years. J's Pizza Market is being recognized as Business of the Year for their excellent customer service and partnership with the Mentor Community. They have provided food for different groups including local schools, churches, United Way of Lake County, Deepwood Foundation, Fine Arts Association, Lifeline, Camp Sue Osborn, the American Red Cross, and the Lake Humane Society. The owner of J's Pizza Market, Jonathan Kelley, is active and generous member of the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce, as Jon is a past member of the Board and plays and integral role in making Taste of Mentor successful with hip help. He also created the Eileen Kelley Memorial Preschool Scholarship Fund, which allows children to stay in school regardless of financial situation. The scholarship fund was established in memory of his mother, who passed away from cancer in 2009

By Janet Podolak, The News-Herald

Mentor’s J’s Pizza Market puts Thanksgiving into a pie, the Gobbler. Jon Kelley has the perfect answer for Thanksgiving leftovers.
It’s the Gobbler, one of the specialty seasonal pizzas at his J’s Pizza Market in Mentor. Today he walks us through its preparation with ingredients most of us will have on hand.

“It started as a joke with my friend John Griffin, who, year after year, pestered me to make him a Thanksgiving pizza,” said Kelley. “One year as a joke we did. And it turned out to be delicious.”

Ever since then the Gobbler has had a place on the pizza shop’s menu. Folks can order it cooked at J’s Pizza Market or take it home and cook it themselves at 425 degrees. The shop is closed for the Thanksgiving holiday but will reopen on Nov. 25. In past years, the Gobbler ended on Thanksgiving Day, but this year it will remain on the menu until Christmas. “We had many requests to keep it,” Kelley said. Free slices of specialty pizzas are offered to customers to try, and many customers were surprised they really liked the Gobbler.

The large pizza starts with a crust pressed from 20 ounces of dough for a 15-inch pizza or 7 ounces of dough for a 10-inch pizza. The dough can be purchased from J’s Pizza Market, pressed into a pan that it can be cooked in. The pizza shop makes its 30 pizza varieties available in a cook-your-own basis so customers can have their pies hot from the oven when they want them. In the shop, the dough is rolled in semolina flour to prevent it from sticking on the paddle when it’s slid into the oven. Mashed potatoes are the first ingredient on top of the crust. “Mashed sweet potatoes would be good too,” mused Kelley. Stuffing, made in the store, is then placed over the potato layer with slices of julienned turkey placed on top. J’s uses deli turkey it has for the sandwiches on its menu, but sliced leftover Thanksgiving turkey would would be even better.

“We julienne the turkey slices into smaller bites to make it easier to eat,” Kelley said. Gravy is then drizzled on top, followed by cranberries. “You can use jellied cranberry sauce, too, but make sure you don’t overdo it,” he said.

The pizza is then ready for baking. If you bake it at home, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and cook for about 12 minutes. J’s Pizza Market uses a stone oven that’s been heated to 500 degrees.

“The oven’s interior temperature is about 600 degrees,” Kelley said, adding that the stone surface on which it cooks makes the pizza crispy on the outside but still chewy on the inside. The pizza is turned as it cooks, because the heat is higher in the back of the oven. And it’s moved close to the back with a paddle after the first minute or two of baking.

“It only takes about five minutes to cook in our oven,” Kelley said.

J’s Pizza Market originated in Mentor 19 years ago and moved to its current location on Center Street a few years ago. The business recently was named Business of the Year by the Mentor Chamber of Commerce.

In September, its pizzas were chosen Best Pizza in Mentor after a city-sponsored online contest to discover which of Mentor’s 31 pizza shops were most popular. That contest followed an effort by a real estate search engine, FindTheHome.com, to determine which cities in the United States had the most pizza shops per 10,000 residents. Mentor, with 8.1 pizza shops per 10,000 residents, had the greatest density in Ohio.

http://www.news-herald.com/lifestyle/20161122/mentors-js-pizza-market-puts-thanksgiving-into-a-pie-the-gobbler

Voted Best Pizza in Mentor, Ohio the Pizza Capital of Ohio

Mentor was recently recognized as the Pizza Capital of Ohio by FindtheHome.com and J's Pizza Market was voted best pizza in Mentor.

So, how did Mentor get to be known as Ohio’s Pizza Capital?

FindTheHome.com, using the most recent 2014 estimates from the American Community Survey, found the cities with the highest density of pizza restaurants per 10,000 people. Mentor, with 8.1 pizza restaurants per 10,000 residents, is tops in Ohio. In fact, Mentor finished third in the nation just behind South Burlington, VT and Scranton, PA.

Cities with populations of 40,000 people or more were considered except for in Alaska and Vermont, where cities with populations over 5,000 people were considered.

Winner Johnsonville Sausage “Top That Cleveland” Contest
In the fall of last year, J’s Pizza Market participated in the Johnsonville Sausage “Top That Cleveland” Contest. The purpose of the contest was to find creative ways to use the Johnsonville product on pizzas and then get customers and friends to vote for the best pizza. First prize was $ 500 to the store and $ 500 to the store’s favorite charity. We are pleased to announce that J’s Pizza Market did win the contest and elected to donate the entire $ 1000 to our favorite charity, The Eileen Kelley Memorial Preschool Scholarship Fund. Starting Point, the non profit organization that administers the fund, has received Johnsonville’s check in the amount of $ 1000. Each week for (3) consecutive weeks, J’s promoted a special pizza using Johnsonville Sausage. We were very pleased to have the support of our customers and friends to be able to win this contest for such a good cause. All of us were very excited about being able to support The Eileen Kelley Memorial Preschool Scholarship Fund, especially Eileen’s two youngest grandchildren. Liam & RoseMary Kelley with the check and winner’s trophy! The Eileen Kelley Memorial Preschool Scholarship Fund is for the benefit of students attending any one of the approximately 40 Preschools in Lake County, OH. Should any preschool student find it necessary to drop out of preschool because of a financial hardship, the family can apply for financial help through Starting Point. Starting Point is the non profit organization that administers and manages the fund. The fund trustees review each application and, upon approval, will assist with all or part of the tuition cost for the remainder of the school year or as long as the financial need exists, which ever comes first. Since the incepiction, the fund has helped (53) children to stay in preschool with either full or parital scholarships.